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In order to better understand how decreasing your daily sugar intake can decrease your “love handles,” it is important to note the sugar pathway of the body. When sugar is first digested, it travels to the liver. The liver can only store so much sugar, so excess sugar is then transported to muscles and then converted into physical energy. The muscles can only store so much sugar, and if this sugar is not constantly converted into energy through exercise, then any remaining sugar that enters the body will be stored as fat.

Most importantly, the liver prefers fructose (sugar from fruit) over other forms of sugar. Therefore, other sugars eaten in addition to fruit sugars have a higher chance of being stored as fat. Keep this in mind when deciding on whether to snack on a piece of fruit or a processed sugar treat like a granola bar.

And remember, if we want to lose weight, then we are aiming to have less than 40 grams (10 teaspoons) of sugar per day. Now, let’s get an idea of how much sugar is in the foods we commonly eat:

Fructose-Based Foods                        Sugar Content

1 medium-sized banana                      4 tablespoons (15 grams)

1 cup strawberries                                2 tablespoons (7 grams)

1 cup grapes                                           5 tablespoons (20 grams)

1 cup cantelope (cubed)                       3 tablespoons (13 grams)

1 navel orange                                        6 tablespoons (23 grams)

1 large apple                                           6 tablespoons (23 grams)

1 large peach                                          3.5 tablespoons (15 grams)

1 cup watermelon (cubed)                   4.25 tablespoons (18 grams)

1 cup pineapple (cubed)                       2.25 tablespoons (9 grams)

Non Fructose-Based Foods               Sugar Content

2 slices white bread                             3 teaspoons

1 bowl cereal                                         4-5 teaspoons

1 bagel                                                    4-5 teaspoons

½ cup dried fruit                                 4 teaspoons

½ cup fruit juice                                  3-4 teaspoons

1 can soda                                              9 teaspoons

1 cup chocolate milk                            6 teaspoons

1 bowl ice cream                                   23 teaspoons

To monitor your daily sugar intake, just start checking the labels of the foods that you consume (and make sure that you are not eating more than 1 serving at a time). To find out the sugar content of natural foods, such as fruits, check online by using search engines. My favorite website for nutritional information is livestrong.com.